OCA, RI, and our Mexico sister organization, Via Organica have been active South of the Border for 20 years, campaigning against GMOs, glyphosate, anti-small farmer “Free Trade” agreements, forced migration, and other issues. We have also supported the call for an end to The Drug War and the legalization of drugs (both in US and Mexico, following the example of Portugal and the Scandinavian countries).

At the same time, we have been promoting, along with our Mexican allies, the transition to organic and agroecological food and farming, which the ruling MORENA (Movement for National Regeneration) Party of President Lopez Obrador has now endorsed as part of its official policy.

Recently the Biden administration has threatened litigation, trade sanctions, and economic reprisals against Mexico unless the country abandons policies restricting and eventually banning the massive imports of GMO yellow corn (17 million tons per year) and glyphosate (the toxic herbicide produced by Monsanto/Bayer that is used on GMO corn.)

Meanwhile Drug War Hawks in the U.S. Congress are calling, for “a boots on the ground” invasion (with US troops crossing the border) in order to defeat the violent Mexican drug cartels that supply the US market for cocaine and heroin. China supplies the precursor chemicals for the deadly drug fentanyl, sold by the Mexican cartels.

At the same time the fossil fuel and mining multinationals have criticized Mexican government nationalization and control over oil and lithium. Lopez Obrador (commonly known as AMLO) has challenged the Biden Administration, stating “Mexico is not a U.S. Colony,” and that Mexico’s policy of nationalized oil and lithium, is non-negotiable. Similarly, AMLO has rejected threats from Monsanto, GMO, and chemical cartels, repeatedly emphasizing that the policy banning the imports of GMO corn and glyphosate will continue.

Learn more: US Pushes Back on Mexico Ban on GMO Corn and Glyphosate

Also: ‘Mexico Is Not a US Colony!’: AMLO Condemns Invasion Threats, Celebrates Nationalization of Oil and Lithium

Mercola Reports:

“The growing obesity epidemic shows no sign of stopping and is predicted to cost over $4.3 trillion by 2035, when experts estimate more than half of the global population will be overweight or obese, and nearly 2 million will be obese.The rising number of children with obesity not only increases a child’s risk of health challenges during childhood, but also raises their risk for health concerns in adulthood including blood clots, overweight and obesity, cardiovascular disease and premature death.

According to the Pentagon, 77% of persons aged 17 to 24 do not qualify for military service for three critical reasons, one of which is being overweight or obese.

Obesity is the leading cause of knee replacements, infertility, liver failure and severe COVID-19. Conflicts of interest obstruct truthful nutritional guidance, such as Coca-Cola’s campaign to promote exercise and drink Coke and pushing seed oils high in linoleic acid, which increases inflammation and increases snacking.

In 1954, obesity was called a common physical abnormality. Today it’s called an epidemic. Many of the complications related to obesity are health conditions that negatively impact quality of life and increase health costs. These include lung, liver and heart diseases, arthritis and gout.

The 2023 report from the World Obesity Federation estimates that the economic impact of overweight and obesity will surpass $4.3 trillion annually by 2035.

In the U.S., the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reports the prevalence of obesity in adults was 41.9% measured from 2017 to March 2020.

This represented an increase from 30.5% from 1999 to 2000. The estimated annual medical costs were roughly $173 billion in 2019 dollars.

Learn more: The Obesity Epidemic: How Did We Get Here?

Suzanne Burdick writes for the Defender:

“Starting this fall, more highly processed foods will be on the menu for children in public schools thanks to a ‘major new initiative’ to get Kraft Heinz’s ’Lunchables’ products into U.S. public school cafeterias.

The company said two versions of the Lunchables product will be served in K-12 public schools, either for students to buy or free, under the National School Lunch Program.

The company said it developed two styles of Lunchables — turkey and cheddar or extra cheesy pizza— that meet the federal nutritional guidelines set for the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) National School Lunch Program, which provides meals to nearly 30 million kids across the country.

Both options were made using ’a specialized recipe that incorporates more protein and whole grains to keep kids powered throughout the day, reduced saturated fat and sodium, and an increased serving size,’ Kraft Heinz told CNN Business.

But critics — including John Fagan, Ph.D., a leading authority on biosafety, food authenticity and sustainability in the food and agricultural system — said he doubted the nutritional value of the products.

The USDA business deal with Kraft Heinz is ‘disappointing,’ Fagan told The Defender.

‘Our government is not recognizing … the school lunch opportunity to strengthen our food system, but instead providing a sweetheart deal to one of the big players in Big Food,’ Fagan said.

The Kraft Heinz Company is the fifth-largest food and beverage company in the world. Its product line includes Velveeta cheese, Kool-Aid and Jell-O.

Fagan is CEO and chief scientific officer of Health Research Institute, which conducts testing on the nutrient and pesticide levels in foods and recently published a report on school lunches.

He said it’s well established that highly processed foods like Kraft Heinz’s products increase inflammation and free radicals.

‘With such highly processed materials, you also are missing a lot of the really important nutrients that are just naturally present in real food,’ Fagan said, adding:

‘We’re putting our children at a big disadvantage to expose them to these foods and put them really in a situation where they have little choice about what they can eat.”

Learn more: Public Schools to Start Serving Kraft Lunchables, Thanks to ‘Sweetheart Deal’ With USDA

Just when you thought Bill Gates’ plans for world domination couldn’t get any crazier. Suzanne Burdick writes: “The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation this month awarded a $4.8 million grant to a company that sells “smart” face masks for cows.

ZELP, which stands for Zero Emissions Livestock Project, claims its artificial intelligence (AI) mask technology for livestock will reduce methane emissions — considered to be a main greenhouse gas — and curb climate change.

Cows and other ruminant animals emit methane in the process of digesting their food.

The mask goes around the cow’s head and captures the methane gas exhaled by the animal, oxidizing it and then releasing it into the air as carbon dioxide and water vapor, according to ZELP.

It also has sensors that continuously collect millions of data points on the animals that are processed by machine learning algorithms.

‘Our AI is trained to detect heat, flag welfare conditions, and identify the most efficient animals with a high-level of accuracy,’ ZELP said.

But critics, including third-generation farmer Howard Vlieger, said the Gates-funded venture is illogical and driven by greed.

Vlieger, who advises crop and livestock farmers across the U.S., said, “This is what you would get when you combine greed and stupidity.”

Commenting on the news, Will Harris — a fourth-generation regenerative farmer who runs his family’s farm White Oak Pastures, told The Defender all he could say was, “Surely this is a hoax.”

Critical Sway, a researcher and investigator, tweeted, “You couldn’t make this stuff up. … We’re living in ridiculous times my friends.”

Learn more: ‘Smart’ Masks for Cows? Gates Invests $4.7 Million in Data-Collecting Faceware for Livestock

Brenda Balleti writes:

“A week-and-a-half after the second-largest bank failure in American history ignited uncertainty throughout the global economy, experts warn bank failures and the stabilization measures taken by the Federal Reserve and Wall Street are creating even greater bank consolidation — and might further pave the way for a central bank digital currency (CBDC).

Silicon Valley Bank’s (SVB) collapse earlier this month led to the collapse of Signature Bank, the voluntary closing of Silvergate Bank and the takeover of all three banks by the FDIC.

In response, top credit rating agency Moody’s lowered the outlook for the entire U.S. banking system to ‘negative.’

Now the banking crisis is spreading to Europe. Swiss regulators engineered a ‘forced marriage’ between UBS and the troubled Credit Suisse this past weekend as part of an effort to stabilize the bank in the face of increasing concerns that a major financial crisis is imminent.

The collapse and downgrading of these banks have bolstered the position of what has come to be called the systemically important banks (SIBs) — financial institutions whose failure could trigger a financial crisis.

These ‘too big to fail’ financial institutions — which include JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, Goldman Sachs, Citigroup and Wells Fargo, among others — have been inundated with billions of dollars of new deposits ‘as smaller lenders face turmoil’ the Financial Times reported.”

Learn more: Feds Using Banking Crisis to Usher in Central Bank Digital Currency, Experts Warn

Max Goldberg writes for Organic Insider:

“Natural Products Expo West returned to Anaheim last week, attracting 65,000 people with more than 3,000 brands exhibiting, and the show could be characterized as similar to the weather we experienced — a mixture of sunshine and rain.

On the one hand, Expo West was filled with tremendous excitement and energy, and many organic companies I spoke with had an incredibly productive few days. Furthermore, some very positive industry trends began to take hold.

On the other hand, the continued allowance of GMO 2.0 companies at Natural Products Expo West resulted in a palpable sense of anger among a growing number of attendees, and it cast an inescapable shadow over the entire show, particularly for those who attended the very contentious GMO 2.0 panel discussion.”

Here are my key trends, thoughts and takeaways:

Learn more: Alongside Encouraging Trends that Emerged at Expo West 2023, Tension is Growing Over GMO 2.0

Brenda Balleti writes:

“Counties with higher obesity rates across the U.S. tend to have more food stores selling more unhealthy food options relative to counties with lower obesity rates, according to a report from The Urban Institute published this month.

“We find that areas of higher obesity prevalence are more likely to have greater exposure to the types of food stores likely to offer less healthy options, even when controlling for differences across counties,” the authors wrote.

In high-obesity counties, the study reported that 65.5% of food establishments are likely to be “unhealthy,” as opposed to low-obesity counties where just 51.5% of food establishments are “unhealthy.”

This was true across rural and non-rural areas.

The researchers studied the distribution of places selling groceries — things that people would eat or prepare at home — as opposed to restaurants. That was in part because research already linked high concentrations of fast food restaurants to obesity, but the role of different types of food stores is less well understood.

Notably, the study found that ‘Dollar’ stores — as in Dollar Tree, Dollar General and Family Dollar — represented a substantially larger share of unhealthy food establishments in high-obesity areas than in low-obesity areas…”

Read more: Obesity Tied to ‘Food Swamps’ — Counties That Have More Stores Selling Unhealthy Foods — Study Finds

Civil Eats reports:

“In Wichita, Kansas, Donna Pearson McClish, founder of Common Ground Producers and Growers, uses a ‘mobile food hub’ model to move fresh food from local farms—both urban and rural—to low-income residents. Many use Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits and market vouchers to stretch their dollars, she explained at the ‘Food Not Feed Summit’ in early February.

In 2020, Common Ground received just under $300,000 from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to train entrepreneurs to grow and distribute food in low-income areas. In 2022, the organization partnered with the Kansas Rural Center to create a bigger food hub that will distribute local food in 12 counties along the interstate that runs from Wichita to Salina. That project will be funded by a larger $500,000 USDA grant.

These efforts to feed people and distribute more local food in small but impactful ways are important to the state’s food system, yet they’re dwarfed by the scale of commodity farming in Kansas. In fact, between 1995 and 2021, the USDA also sent more than $15 billion to wheat, sorghum, and corn farmers to continue producing commodities and $3 billion in payments to encourage conservation practices on those same farms…”

Learn More: This Farm Bill Really Matters. We Explain Why.

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